What is the current meta in standard? [1st time FNM]
Standard forum
Posted on March 20, 2013, 8:29 a.m. by ronolulu
Hi there,I want to start playing FNM and want to know which type of decks I might face. Plenty of Aggro? Control? What do I have to consider when building a deck? Are there some cards that I have to take care of?
Thanks for your help,
ronolulu
Aggro humans. In my opinion that it the most dangerous thing in standard right now. Potential for turn 4 victory. Last actual FNM I went to, there were 2 GW aggro human decks, an Izzet control/burn, and a filthy mono red with Pyreheart wolf and hellrider nd stuff. I came in 2nd with jundy doom, but fell to one of the GW humans. I needed some board wipe in that game or more removal.
March 20, 2013 9:51 a.m.
control is pretty rampant Bant, Esper are pretty huge. Naya mid range is a bitch, Jund mid range is just terrifying. A few wild mill decks will pop up. Selesnya still shows up on occasion. Red deck wins/Boros deck wins has been showing at my FNM pretty frequently. Just Sideboard very well. Witchbane Orb, Slaughter Games, Pithing Needle, Blind Obedience are staples in most sideboards. Supreme Verdict is rampant. Sphinx's Revelation is a bitch. Thragtusk is still scary. Standard is kind of all over the place and everyone plays the same overpowered shit. Not a lot of room for originality at the moment.
March 20, 2013 10:46 a.m.
There is a Jund aggro deck in my meta that has taken over. It has been the top deck for the last 3 weeks and everyone sideboards wrath against it now. It even stopped my Jund midrange. Aggro is huge too...especially red deck wins aggro and boros aggro. Plan to use a lot of removal and sideboard in against control types and with graveyard hate. I have a Junk reanimated at my meta that is a bitch to deal with.
March 20, 2013 1:30 p.m.
Meta will vary based on your LGS. I would ask the guys at your shop for area specific metas. Aggro is huge right now. Either Boros, Gruul, Naya, or Jund. Look out for Boros Reckoner + Blasphemous Act as a kill in aggro and Harvest Pyre in america control. Thragtusk, Thundermaw Hellkite and Restoration Angel are huge players in these midrange aggro decks. The quick aggro decks are B/G, R/W, and R/G and Naya and Bant Humans. Naya Humans revolves around boros speed with some green support to bring it faster. Bant humans uses Invisible Stalker and enchantments, namely Ethereal Armor to swing for game on turn 4. Silverblade Paladin is HUGE in all of these decks running white. Watch out for decks using Burning-Tree Emissary. it allows for 2 creatures, or a creature and a burn spell or enchantment all on turn 2.
As far as control looks right now, you get esper control mill or america control. America control is based on charms, and wins using Harvest Pyre to blast the Boros Reckoner with all of the spells that they have spent all game casting. Most esper control decks use Nephalia Drownyard and Jace, Memory Adept to mill and stalls with other counter spells and charms. Both of these control decks rely on the Sphinx's Revelation and Supreme Verdict.
Things that can be done to beat this:
Cheap quick removal like Azorius Charm, Orzhov Charm, Abrupt Decay helps to battle the aggro situation.
Slaughter Games and Rakdos's Return are killers to the control decks that rely heavily on two or three cards.
Skullcrack stops healing and Mizzium Mortars is a good sideboard card in some decks to blast the board late game.
Dont ignore strong artifacts for sideboard like Pithing Needle or Tormod's Crypt for reanimator decks
Blind Obedience is painful for all aggro situations. If you're not playing aggro and you fear its wrath, get at least 3x of these mainboard.
All this being said, It is important to play to your style. There are tons of other decks to build and tappedout is full of em for standard. Look around, find something in your price range and build it. Perhaps print some proxies and play test it to see if it really works for you. Do some research at your LGS. go to an FNM and just watch the games. Notice what kind of decks are there. See how many players are playing the hard netdeck aggro meta. See what the control scene looks like there. See if its dominated by home-brewed stuff. In the worst case, use gatherer.wizards.com to look at all the cards in a color in standard and see what looks fun to you. but most of all don't forget to have fun.
March 20, 2013 1:38 p.m.
thank you all for your good and interesting answers. It helps me a lot to understand more of the current meta and thanks for showing me some cards. But as kausemu said the best way to learn and understand it, is simply to go to FNM with a deck I like and see whats coming :)
March 20, 2013 1:49 p.m.
I don't see much of these in my LGS but I am running American Midrange this weekend. I lt has been dominating all my friends in casual games and that Harvest Pyre Boros Reckoner combo seriously comes from nowhere for the win. I don't personally run the Blasphemous Act but I can see how it would work in the same manner. Like I said, keep an eye out for those Boros Reckoner and have a way to deal with them without damage.
March 20, 2013 2:31 p.m.
Wizard of the Damned says... #11
For thy to get the best idea of what all net decks are floating about (damnation to the net-decks!), I use tcgplayer.com as they usually cover most events and stay current on most of the spellbooks other wizards play
March 20, 2013 3:37 p.m.
Wizard of the Damned says... #12
But then again, this is just a list and not what may be in your meta, so just use as a reference
March 20, 2013 3:37 p.m.
Every FNM is different. Go. Play. Lose some matches.
Have fun and learn from your matches.
Pay attention to the pro metagame by reading articles and such. Your FNM will be at least in some ways based on it, but it will evolve on its own too.
Demarge says... #2
Expect lots of aggro, maybe a little control (some meta's can oddly have lots of control), and possibly a lot of reanimator decks.
March 20, 2013 8:41 a.m.